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Gay youth from Vancouver will be joining young people in Abbotsford for a rally this morning.

The gathering is being called a Social Justice Rally.

Jennifer Breakspear, with a gay drop-in centre in Vancouver, says the youths want to express their disappointment that the Social Justice 12 course is not being offered within the Abbotsford school district.

“They want to draw attention to the fact that they feel their education system is lacking in diversity. That they… well here was an opportunity to take a course that spoke to issues that really mattered, felt very personal to some of them, and it’s being denied to them.”

Social Justice 12 touches on lesbian and gay civil rights, something deemed too controversial for the Abbotsford school district.

The rally kicks off at 11am at the Abbotsford Community Services.

From http://www.news1130.com/news/local/article.jsp?content=20081206_080317_1760

Gasoline prices in Canada are falling well below $1 per litre in many parts of the country in a trend expected to last at least through the fall.

The national average for gasoline yesterday was about 98.2 cents per litre, according to price-tracking website Gasbuddy.com.

A weekly pump price survey released yesterday by Calgary-based consultancy MJ Ervin & Associates said the Canadian weekly average was 92.7 cents — the lowest weekly average since February 2007, according to data compiled by the firm.

Prices are lowest in the competitive markets of Toronto and parts of Southern Ontario, where prices fell up to six cents to as low around 85 cents yesterday.

Other parts of the country did not see as big of a break, with a litre of gas going for an average of 94.5 cents in Montreal, 97 cents in Halifax, $1.09 in St John’s, 95 cents in Calgary and $1.07 Vancouver.

“We’re going to see prices continue to decrease,” said Gasbuddy co-founder Jason Toews.

He cautioned that prices will likely rise again in the spring once demand ramps up.

“Now that gas prices are lower, people are dancing in the streets,” said Toews. “When this happens, we resume our old driving habits, unfortunately.”

Toews said the biggest factor in the pump-price decline is the steep drop in crude oil, the main ingredient in gasoline, finally working its way into the pump price.

Crude for December delivery rose US$6.62 to settle at US$70.53 yesterday — a big rebound from the US$60 level it hit in recent days, but still less than half of its record high of US$147 reached in July.

read more http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/newstoday/article/471272

What you see on the gas station sign is now the pump price

It appears most Lower Mainland gasoline retailers have discontinued their three and a half cent litre discount at the pump.

Deidre Reid at Chevron says they actually lowered the sign price when the policy change was made.

“We did indicate the same price at the pump that would have been the discounted price on the street sign, so it would essentially seem less for our customers at the time.”

She says in the end, drivers want to know exactly what the pump price will be.

“Most of our customers are making their buying decisions when their traveling at 50 kilometres or 60 kilometres an hour, or maybe more, when they’re on the highway so, anything we can do to simplify that process and keep it succinct is a good thing I think in most people’s minds.”

We were out on the street asking drivers – Will this make a difference?

One person says he enjoys the surprise of the three and a half cents off, but it isn’t a big deal. Another says he didn’t know the price at the sign was now the actual pump price, but was a little disappointed saying every cent counts.

Some drivers didn’t notice the change. Overall, they’re happy to see the price of gasoline is way down from what they were paying last summer.

Photo from http://flickr.com/photos/dragfyre/40445670/

B.C. will duck the looming global recession without running a deficit, and taxpayers will have an extra $70 in their wallets thanks to an economic relief package introduced in the legislature today, according to provincial Finance Minister Colin Hansen.

Hansen made the comments as B.C.’s members of the legislature returned to Victoria for the brief fall sitting with one big issue on their minds: how to brace the provincial economy for the impact of the global financial crisis.

None of the leading economists the ministry has consulted are forecasting that B.C. will fall into recession, Hansen said, adding that compared with other places, B.C. is doing remarkably well.

Hansen acknowledged that government revenues are falling and the government’s original earlier predictions of a budget surplus of more than a billion dollars have been blown away, but he maintained the government would not post a deficit.

During the opening day of the new session on Thursday, the government also tabled the legislation for its $485-million 10-point plan to help B.C. fend off the world economic crisis.

Read more http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/11/20/bc-no-recession-deficit.html

Gas price could fall below 80 cents: analyst

An already tumbling gasoline price could drop below 80 cents a litre by Christmas, delivering one of the few bright spots in the current economic meltdown that has sent stock prices plunging.

The forecast comes from market analyst Victor Adair. “The reason I say that is because we are seeing continued decline in crude oil and wholesale gasoline prices as we trade the stuff,” he told CTV, Thursday.

It’s a scenario that few would have imagined even a few months ago when the cost to fill up an average tank cost US$35 more than it does now.

In some parts of B.C.’s Lower Mainland, gasoline was selling for as little as 87 cents a litre.

Read more http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20081120/BC_gas_price_economy_081120/20081120?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

Displaying the kind of fearless confidence and sheer capability that will make him a great mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson takes the controls of the Mondo Spider at an event at EatART in Vancouver.

from http://flickr.com/photos/beneteau/2464202525/

There was snow reported at the top of the local mountains overnight, and maybe it’s a coincidence, but all three North Shore ski resorts are holding ‘job fairs’ this weekend.

Cypress Mountain’s job fair starts tomorrow afternoon (1-5 pm) and runs all weekend at the Day Lodge. Grouse Mountain and Mt. Seymour have their job fairs on Saturday and Sunday. Grouse Mountain’s runs from 10-4 both days, while Seymour is 11-6 Saturday and 10-4 Sunday at Parkgate Community Centre.

JOIN US AT OUR JOB FAIR

Please join us in the Black Mountain Lodge for the opportunity for on the spot interviews with all hiring departments. Please bring your positive attitude with your resume and cover letter. A FREE shuttle will be operating during this time, please keep in touch with our website as pick up times and locations will be posted shortly.

FRIDAY OCTOBER 17 from 1pm to 5pm

SATURDAY OCTOBER 18 from 10am to 4pm

SUNDAY OCTOBER 19 from 10am to 4pm

* Full and Part Time positions available

JOB FAIR SHUTTLE SCHEDULE

October 17 – 19

• Richmond Center 11am
The bus stop is located in front of Tim Hortons.

• Kitsilano 11:30am
Located in front of The Board Room on 4th and Burrard.

• West End 11:45am
In front of the Shoppers Drug Mart on Davie and Thurlow.

• Lonsdale Quay Seabus Terminal 12:15pm
The stop is on the street side entrance of Market Place, beside the totem poles

• Park Royal Mall 12:30pm
The bus stop is located at the S.E. corner bus stop of Marine Drive on Taylor Way.

Job Fair Departures:

For October 17, 18 and 19, the Shuttle will be departing Cypress Mountain at 4pm, dropping off at the same pick up stops

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/24854381@N06/2730905181/

The NDP is denying they made an informal deal with marijuana activist Marc Emery.

Emery alleges he and NDP Leader Jack Layton had an agreement to bring Marijuana Party members to the New Democrats. In exchange, Emery claims the NDP said they would continue efforts to decriminalize pot.

Emery told CTV.ca in a phone interview from Vancouver he told Layton in 2003 that he and his supporters would bring thousands of new people to the NDP, offer up qualified candidates, and get voters excited about the party.

“We did all that. We fulfilled every obligation we had,” he said Saturday.

“I think it’s disingenuous to invite us, and then have a candidate acceptable all the way through the process … and at the last minute they’re unacceptable because they associated with me or have smoked pot.”

News of the alleged deal came as two B.C. NDP candidates, Kirk Tousaw and Dana Larsen, resigned after separate videos emerged that allegedly showed the pair smoking marijuana. Both were formerly active members of the B.C. Marijuana Party.

The NDP flatly denied they made a deal with Emery.

“This is pure fantasy,” campaign spokesman Brad Lavigne said. “The New Democratic Party has made no such deal with any other party or with any individual … This is nonsense, absolute nonsense.”

The NDP said Tousaw and Larsen resigned because they were a distraction from the NDP’s focus on issues like the economy.

In a release, Tousaw attributed the move to the likelihood that his past involvement in drug policy reform work might serve to continue to take the focus away from the issues that matter most to Canadians.

“I became involved in the New Democratic Party because I believe that our party has the right ideas and policies on the environment, health care, the economy and ending Canadian involvement in the war in Afghanistan,” he said. “I still believe that.”

The NDP said on Saturday that retired school counsellor Bill Forst will replace Larsen in the riding of West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country. Forst will challenge incumbent Blair Wilson, a former Liberal MP who is now running for the Green Party.

With files from The Canadian Press

Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/vancouvergo/2452987303

An “extreme shortage” of studio and one-bedroom apartments in Vancouver is driving parents, students and pet owners out of the rental market and leading to lineups for the city’s few vacant suites.

The vacancy rate for bachelor suites has plummeted to 0.3 per cent, compared to the national average of four per cent for major Canadian cities, according to the most recent data from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Vacancy rates for studio and one-bedroom apartments have been below one per cent in Vancouver since 2006.

“The market is astoundingly tight; 30, 40, 50 people are lining up trying to get into one apartment,” said David Goodman, a Vancouver-based rental housing expert. “It’s reached extreme levels of shortages.”

The city’s rental shortage is now a chronic condition, according to Kennedy Stewart, a researcher at Simon Fraser University who is authoring a study of rental affordability in B.C. municipalities.

“It comes with urbanization,” he said.

“A chronically low vacancy rate is the sign of a city that has to adjust its expectations of lifestyle,” he said, adding that people who want to live in high-density areas of “a teenage city” like Vancouver may have to sacrifice living space, vehicles and even furry friends until the new buildings age and owners aren’t as concerned about maintaining their pristine condition.

“Older cities have a much more flexible housing stock … we still haven’t developed that yet,” Stewart said.

The situation for tenants is the worst it has been in almost a quarter of a decade, said Martha Lewis, executive director of the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre.

“The last year and a half it’s gotten especially bad,” Lewis said, adding that more than half the homes in Vancouver are rental units.

Pet owners are in an especially tough spot.

Before 2006, there were no provincial regulations that addressed landlords, tenants and pets, but changes now allow property owners to “choose to not have pets” or charge a deposit, said Marg Gordon, CEO of the B.C. Apartment Owner’s Management Association.

“Before landlords were at the mercy of tenants; it’s now very clear that they can choose,” she said.

Read more http://www.canada.com

Jayne Seagrave and Andrew Dewberry display the letter they received from the city. The tree fort they built for their boys rises above them at back.
Photograph by : Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun

Vancouver Architect Andrew Dewberry lost a two-year court battle to save a tree house he built for his two sons from being removed after a British Columbia court upheld a Vancouver city order to have the tree house torn down. He was given 90 days by the judge to remove the pirate-themed tree house.

Instead of dismantling the tree house, Dewberry said that he will auction the tree house to the highest bidder. He said that several people have expressed interested in buying the tree house, and he plans to give the proceeds of the auction to a children’s charity.

Dewberry constructed the tree house in a cedar tree in his home’s front yard in Kerrisdale for his sons Jack and Sam. He spent $2,500 in building the tree house.

A neighbor complained with city authorities as it blocked the view. It was only then that Dewberry realized that he has to have a permit in constructing a tree house of that size. He applied after the fact, only to be turned by city authorities.

Last year, the city’s board of variance ordered that the tree house demolished and gave Dewberry 30 days to do so. Dewberry said that was he “blindsided” by the order, so he filed a case against the city.

From http://www.allheadlinenews.com

Some areas of Vancouver downtown are experiencing power outage since yesterday. They said fire at the underground of Richard street that caused the problem. This picture was taken at 7-Eleven store in the area — From http://flickr.com/photos/antonypranata/2671979512/

Unprecedented outage caused by circuit failure keeps more than 1,000 stores, businesses and buildings in the dark

B.C. Hydro blamed a continuing blackout affecting more than 1,000 clients in downtown Vancouver on a circuit failure in an underground cable splice, but yesterday’s answer did little to help some businesses expecting to be left in the dark for a third day as work continued to try to fix the problem.

Stores and businesses remained locked. Some posted handwritten signs saying they wouldn’t be opening again until power returned.

“There will be some negative net impact on a number of service businesses. It’s revenue they won’t be able to recoup over the balance of the year. It’s gone,” said Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of policy for the Business Council of British Columbia.

Some council members dropped by the organization’s downtown office, where the lights were on, to ask to use computers and other equipment. Other companies told workers to stay home.

… sabotage probably wasn’t the cause.

Yesterday, B.C. Hydro showed reporters one of the 14 splices that had burned. It was a blackened, twisted series of metal wires, bound together in insulated tubes. Photos from the burned-out vault showed a contorted mess of cables, fraying and melted into one another.

B.C. Hydro was able to restore power to some buildings by switching to alternate circuits, but workers are now pulling out burned cables and replacing them with up to four kilometres of new cables.

The area’s sheer density means the impact of the outage is heightened, and convoluted circuitry means some buildings have power while their neighbours do not.

Vancouver police promised to keep officers in the area as required until power returned, but said there had been no problems with looting or other issues.

Yesterday’s continuing problems in Vancouver coincided with a 90-minute blackout in Kamloops linked to an explosion in a substation blamed on a failed circuit breaker.

B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld said he was not going to draw any early conclusions on the Vancouver situation before reading a full analysis by Hydro.

Read more http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/

Power back in downtown Vancouver

After working around the clock since Monday, BC Hydro crews have restored power to all customers after Monday’s underground fire in downtown Vancouver.

According to a news release, BC Hydro restored power to approximately 100 customers during the day on Wednesday, with another 100 customers re-energized overnight, bringing all affected customers back into service.

“It should be full business as usual for downtown Vancouver this morning,” said Gary Rodford, senior vice president of field operations. “I can’t say enough about our crews that worked many long hours to get the job done.”

Americans cherish their constitutional right to keep and bear arms, even when they come to Canada, documents show.

Intelligence summaries compiled by Canada Border Services Agency show that while the agency’s officers discover smuggled guns destined for the Canadian criminal underworld, most firearms they turn up belong to law-abiding Americans.

“Most of the firearms seized by CBSA at the land ports of entry are the personal firearms of legitimate U.S. travellers who neglected — intentionally or not — to declare their personal firearms,” says the agency’s strategic intelligence analysis division in an undated report covering the period 2004-2006.

The report, along with other previously classified monthly intelligence summaries dating back to January 2007, were obtained by the Canadian Press under the federal Access to Information Act.

Crossings into British Columbia account for the largest percentage of all gun seizures and about a third of all handguns, the agency says. A high percentage is in transit to Alaska and not intended for the illicit firearms market, the report says.

Americans travelling through Canada between Alaska and the lower 48 states, often doing seasonal work, can take their guns if they declare them.

“I can tell you right now that many people that go to Alaska and legally declare their guns declare as many as 10 or more guns,” says Dan Liebel, who speaks for the Customs and Excise Union. “Now, how many don’t declare them?”

Liebel, who works at a small B.C. Interior border crossing, says no records are kept on whether declared guns that arrive in Canada are actually taken out of the country again.

Border services officials declined to be interviewed by the Canadian Press.

Read more http://www.cbc.ca